Destruction Warlock DPS Spell Summary — Shadowlands 9.0.2
On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Destruction Warlock in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.2.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic DPS Warlock spells.
Destruction Warlock Spell Summary
If you are new to the Destruction Specialization, this is a great place to start reading and begin breaking down the key spells that hold together this specialization. On this page we will discuss what abilities your specialization uses, how they influence gameplay and resource generation, and the ways they interact with each other and your cooldowns. If you have some experience with Destruction already, it is recommended you skip over this section and move on to the rest of the guide.
In order to utilise abilities more efficiently, check out the Macros section on the Addon page.
Main Resources for Destruction Warlock
Soul Shards are the main resource of Destruction Warlocks. Each Soul shard is made up of 10 Soul Shard Fragments. Soul Shards and Fragments are generated by your filler spells and your DoT effect, and they can be spent on an extremely powerful nuke or an AoE damage over time effect. You can have a maximum of 5 Soul Shards (50 Soul Shard Fragments).
Mana is a secondary resource for Destruction Warlocks. Your main spells do not
cost very much Mana to cast, and will never threaten your Mana pool. Utility
spells, such as Demonic Gateway, and Crowd Control abilities, such
as
Fear, cost relatively more Mana than ever before, so be wary
about using them too liberally.
Unlocking Abilities
This page lists all the different abilities available after reaching max level. If you are still in the process of leveling, check out the Warlock Leveling page, which offers detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.
Basic Abilities for Destruction Warlock
Soul Shard Generating Abilities
Immolate is a damage over time spell that deals very high
damage. It generates a Soul Shard Fragment when it ticks and additional
Fragment on critical strikes. This should be kept applied at all times to
targets who will live for 5 seconds or more.
Conflagrate is an instant cast spell with 2 charges. It
generates 5 Soul Shard Fragments on cast, and the cooldown of the charges is
reduced by Haste rating. It also reduces the cast time of
Incinerate
and
Chaos Bolt by 30% for 10 seconds for each charge used. This should
be cast on cooldown for maximum Soul Shard generation.
Incinerate is your main filler. This should be cast when the
previous 3 spells are unavailable or already active on your target.
Incinerate generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment on hits and 2 Soul
Shard Fragments on criticals.
Soul Shard Consuming Abilities
Chaos Bolt consumes 2 Soul Shards and nukes the target for
heavy damage. This damage is always a Critical Hit, and
Chaos Bolt does
increased damage (1% damage per 1% crit) based on your Critical Strike rating.
This should be cast when you have Soul Shards available and, ideally, an active
damage cooldown or proc.
Rain of Fire consumes 3 Soul Shards and deals Fire damage in an
area, over a period of 8 seconds (reduced by Haste).
For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.
Talented DPS Abilities of Destruction Warlock
Soulfire is a single-target nuke on a 45-second cooldown that
also applies
Immolate.
Cataclysm is a ground targeted AoE high damage spell that also
applies
Immolate on enemies within 8 yards.
Channel Demonfire is a 25 seconds cooldown channel that shoots
bolts randomly at any target affected by
Immolate.
Cooldowns for Destruction Warlock
Damage Cooldowns for Destruction Warlock
Summon Infernal is our primary damage cooldown. The Infernal
is a targeted ability that deals Fire damage and stuns within an AoE. Upon
landing, the Infernal generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment every 0.5 seconds for
the player. It deals damage every 2 seconds to all nearby targets, scaling
with Haste. Infernal lasts 30 seconds and has a 3 minute cooldown period.
Havoc is a 10-second (up to 12 at Level 54) debuff that can be
applied once every 30 seconds. During the duration of Havoc, all your single
target spells cast will also be copied to the Havoc target. Requires at least
2 targets to work.
For more information, please see our cooldown usage section on the rotation page.
Defensive Cooldowns and Tools for Destruction Warlock
Unending Resolve reduces damage taken by 40% for 8 seconds.
Additionally, you are also immune to interrupt and silence effects for the
duration. Unending Resolve has a baseline cooldown of 3 minutes.
Soul Leech grants all single target damage done an absorption shield
for 8% of damage dealt, up to a maximum of 10% of maximum player health.
Demonic Gateway creates two points which players can travel
between by interacting with. Players may only use the gateway once every 90
seconds.
Changelog
- 23 Nov. 2020: Page updated for Shadowlands release: added passive effect after level 50.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Warlock Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Motoko, Warlock main since The Burning Crusade, co-admin in the Warlock Discord, and theorycrafter and contributor for LockOneStopShop.
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